The Omar Sheikh Logbook

April 1993: Leaves Pakistan by road for a short stint in Bosnia along with fundamentalist outfit 'Convoy of Mercy', headed by British national and Afghan war veteran Assad Khan.

Mid-1994: Arrives in India from Pakistan. His main mission: release of the then Harkat-ul-Ansar militant leader Azhar Masood, jailed in India.

October 31, 1994: Arrested at Sahibabad, Ghaziabad under TADA for kidnapping four foreigners, one American and three British backpackers from Delhi. Kept in custody at Meerut jail.

November 1998: TADA court acquits him of any involvement in terrorism but he is prosecuted under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for assault and infringement of Foreigners Act. Transferred to Tihar Jail in New Delhi.

December 31, 1999: Among those released in exchange for passengers of the hijacked IC-814 flight to Kandahar.

His comments tinged with realism about the lack of formal guarantees to India of a 'Phase II' in the international war against terrorism that would strike at Pak-sponsored terrorism, a combative Union home minister L.K. Advani spoke to Ishan Joshi. E

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), has been put under house arrest in his hometown Dera Ismail Khan for leading protest rallies against the US and the Pakistani government. Asim Hussain managed to speak to him